If you’ve been admitted to more than one school, use a number of criteria to pick your personal best. To whittle down the list, factor in job opportunities and scholarship available, talk to other students and get in touch with alumni.
There’s nothing more gratifying for an MBA applicant than receiving a letter of acceptance. Hurray! All that hard work has finally paid off. Then, when more letters arrive, the feeling of elation can get truly overwhelming.
Wait for the excitement to die down a little before proceeding to the next step. Which school to choose? That’s not an easy question to answer since all of them obviously appealed to you enough to go through the arduous application process. You’ll be spending the next two years away from the job market and paying handsomely for your education. It’s a tough decision, but here are a few criteria that may help you make the right choice.
Which program is better from a financial point of view?
More often than not, a decision is made based on scholarship availability. After all, most applicants wouldn’t like to run into heavy debt. Nevertheless, admissions consultants usually caution their clients against putting too much emphasis on the financial factor.
It’s a question of perspective: whether you’d like to have more money now or further down the road. If the school offering a substantial scholarship doesn’t rank very high it will likely provide less opportunities for networking which will probably affect your post-MBA career. Studying at a leading business school will cost you more, but this drawback is hardly significant when compared to the benefits in terms of salary and position after graduation.
If the difference in rank is negligible, but the scholarship offers vary greatly, don’t pick the school which offers more from the get-go. First, you should test the waters to see whether you can get a better deal.
Contact the admissions office to inquire whether they would offer you a higher scholarship – or any scholarship if they haven’t done so before – since you’ve also received a letter of acceptance from another school with a more appealing financial incentive. Tread carefully. Be sure to emphasize how much you’re interested in their program and avoid explicitly naming the other school. You may not get what you want, but you won’t jeopardize your position either.
Which school will benefit your career?
You’ve probably thought about your post-MBA goals before, but now that you have a number of schools to choose from you might want to take a closer look at what each of them has to offer in terms of professional growth. Which school provides you with the best opportunity to further your career? Do they have the resources necessary for you to land a job you’re aiming for? Gather as much information as you can.
Look into student clubs, alumni networks, and career centers. The schools’ websites can provide you with employment statistics and recruiting data. For additional information, get in touch with recruiters and your companies of choice and ask them how they view the schools in question.
Here’s a case in point. Hugo Varela, a health care worker from Madrid, was admitted to three business schools: Dartmouth’s Tuck, Duke’s Fuqua, and MIT Sloan. His number one criterion was whether the program would help him achieve his career goals. As it turned out, each school offered ample opportunity for advancement.
Therefore, to make up his mind, Varela needed some other criteria. It may not be easy to choose a school based on career opportunities alone.
Which school suits you best?
Now we’re entering a rather vague terrain. Very often,it’s nearly impossible to explain why a certain school feels right for you. And yet, this aspect is very important. When assessing different programs from this point of view, your gut feeling is your best bet.
Do you find the environment suitable? Does the atmosphere make you feel comfortable? Needless to say, the best way to judge is to see for yourself. If you can’t visit the campus, at least talk to the students and alumni. See if they’re friendly and open to conversation.
Varela was busy with his work, so he visited only the Tuck School of Business, but he also took advantage of the special events in Madrid to get acquainted with other students and learn more about each school. For Varela, it was the people he met that helped him make the final decision.
There would be an open information weekend at virtually every business school. You get to see the campus, meet other applicants and current students, and experience the overall atmosphere. Unfortunately, some applicants are unable to visit business schools due to logistical or financial reasons.
This is not to say that it is impossible to get the necessary information otherwise. Vandana, an applicant from Bangalore, India, was admitted to UCLA Anderson, Kellogg, and Tepper at Carnegie Mellon. She couldn’t travel to any of them, but she attended information sessions, corresponded with students and graduates, and conducted an extensive online research.
This not only helped her choose a business school to her liking, but also gave her an advantage during the application process. At Kellogg, the interviewer was impressed with how much Vandana knew about the school and its culture even though she lived so far away.
Ultimately, each applicant will make a decision based on his or her own criteria. The school’s geographical location may prove to be a crucial factor or else a unique program or culture may tip the scales. Regardless of the final choice, it is important that you carefully evaluate all the major aspects.
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